San Francisco Aerial Arts & Film Festival

Zaccho Dance Theatre and Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture open the seventh biennial San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival on Friday, August 7, at Fort Mason’s waterfront campus. The three-day program runs through August 9 in the Gateway Pavilion and Cowell Theater at Pier 2, with live performances, youth showcases, site-responsive works and a film component built around aerial dance and filmmaking. Organizers say the 2026 edition brings together internationally recognized aerial artists, emerging performers and filmmakers for a weekend of performances and screenings. Tickets listed by organizers range from $15 to $75. ### Where is the festival happening, and how long does it run? Fort Mason Center says the festival is scheduled for August 7 to 9 at 2 Marina Boulevard, with programming centered in the Gateway Pavilion and Cowell Theater, Pier 2. Zaccho Dance Theatre, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture and Fort Mason Art are presenting the event together, according to the festival pages published by the organizers. (fortmason.org) The weekend format is spread across theaters, galleries and public-facing spaces on the Fort Mason campus, according to Zaccho’s event description. Organizers describe the festival as a three-day celebration of contemporary aerial dance, circus arts and site-responsive performance, with filmmaking included as a core part of the program rather than a separate add-on. ### What makes this year’s lineup notable? (fortmason.org) The 2026 program includes 15 choreographers, six youth companies and more than 20 films, according to Zaccho Dance Theatre’s festival page. Fort Mason’s event listing says the lineup mixes acclaimed aerial artists, youth aerial and circus performers, bold new site works and aerial dance filmmakers. Joanna Haigood, festival director and co-founder of Zaccho Dance Theatre, said the program reflects “the extraordinary breadth” of contemporary aerial arts and described the work as “deeply personal, politically urgent, visually daring, and rooted in community.” Fort Mason’s listing says the featured works this year examine the resilience of the human body and spirit, collective rage as a force for change, and joy shaped by the pandemic and young motherhood. (zaccho.org) ### Which artists and projects are featured? Amelia Rudolph, the founder of Bandaloop, is bringing her company ARMA to the festival with “Source Water,” according to Fort Mason and Zaccho. Organizers say the work uses rigging, live performance and original music to explore humanity’s relationship with water as both a life source and a vulnerable resource. (fortmason.org) Veronica Blair is premiering “EleKtric Body,” a multidisciplinary performance supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Arts Impact Endowment Grant, Fort Mason says. The event page says the work draws on Robert O. Becker’s “The Body Electric” and connects bioelectricity with ancestral knowledge. Megan Lowe and Roel Seeber are also premiering “Meandering Urbanite,” which Fort Mason describes as a vertical dance duet inspired by the urban landscape. (fortmason.org) Zaccho’s artist listings also highlight Joey Moore, who performs as Joey the Tiger, presenting “Disturbed Waters,” a solo work drawn from his experience with misophonia. ### How is the weekend scheduled? Eventbrite listings published by Zaccho show the public schedule beginning with “The Cowell Showcase” on Friday at 8 p.m. (fortmason.org) Saturday’s listed events include “The Next Generation” at 1 p.m., followed by two “New Site Works” programs at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., and another “Cowell Showcase” at 8 p.m. Sunday’s Eventbrite schedule lists additional “New Site Works” performances at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., followed by “New Experiments” at 7 p.m. (zaccho.org) The organizer’s collection page describes the series as San Francisco’s premiere aerial arts event. ### Where can people find tickets and program details? Fort Mason Center and Zaccho Dance Theatre both direct audiences to online program and ticket pages for the August 7-9 run. (eventbrite.com) Zaccho’s festival page lists prices from $15 to $75, while Eventbrite pages attached to the collection show individual events with booking links for each performance block. August 9 is the final day of this year’s festival, with “New Experiments” listed for 7 p.m. on Sunday. (eventbrite.com) Organizers have posted the continuing schedule and ticket information through Fort Mason Center, Zaccho Dance Theatre and the festival’s Eventbrite collection. (zaccho.org)